The present invention relates generally to semiconductor devices and their fabrication and, more particularly, to semiconductor devices and their manufacture involving testing the devices for defects.
The semiconductor industry has recently experienced technological advances that have permitted dramatic increases in circuit density and complexity, and equally dramatic decreases in power consumption and package sizes. Present semiconductor technology now permits single-chip microprocessors with many millions of transistors operating at speeds of hundreds of millions of instructions per second to be packaged in relatively small, air-cooled semiconductor device packages. A by-product of such high-density and high functionality has been an increase in the number and complexity of the manufacturing processes, as well as an increase in the difficulties of maintaining satisfactory levels of quality control, testing the devices for defects, and providing a cost-effective product using such processes.
As the manufacturing processes for semiconductor devices and integrated circuits increase in difficulty, methods for testing and debugging these devices become increasingly important. Not only is it important to ensure that individual chips are functional, it is also important to ensure that batches of chips perform consistently. In addition, the ability to detect a defective manufacturing process early is helpful for reducing the number of defective devices manufactured.
Traditionally, integrated circuits have been tested using methods including directly accessing circuitry or devices within the integrated circuit. In addition, many methods require the circuit to be powered. Directly accessing the circuitry is difficult for several reasons. For instance, in flip-chip type dies, transistors and other circuitry are located in a very thin epitaxially-grown silicon layer in a circuit side of the die. The circuit side of the die is arranged face-down on a package substrate. This orientation provides many operational advantages. However, due to the face-down orientation of the circuit side of the die, the transistors and other circuitry near the circuit side are not readily accessible for testing, modification, or other purposes. Therefore, access to the transistors and circuitry near the circuit side is from the back side of the chip.
Since access to the transistors and circuitry in flip-chips is generally from the back side of the device, it is often necessary to mill through the back side and probe certain circuit elements in order to test the device. Milling through the back side is often difficult and time consuming. Moreover, circuitry and devices in the integrated circuit may potentially be damaged by milling processes. The difficulty, cost, and destructive aspects of existing methods for testing integrated circuits are impediments to the growth and improvement of semiconductor technologies.
The present invention is exemplified in a number of implementations and applications, some of which are summarized below. According to an example embodiment, the present invention is directed to a method for testing an integrated circuit. Acoustic energy propagation in the integrated circuit is detected and circuit defects are detected as a function of the acoustic energy.
According to another example embodiment of the present invention, a system is arranged for testing an integrated circuit having circuitry in a circuit side opposite a back side The system includes a substrate removal device and a laser configured and arranged to excite circuitry in the integrated circuit. One or more acoustic energy detectors are used to detect acoustic energy. A computer is configured and arranged to use the detected acoustic energy and generate a parameter that can be used to detect one or more defects in the integrated circuit. For example, the defect can be detected at the computer, or it can be detected via an outside source, such as a human operator viewing a computer-generated parameter. In another example embodiment, the computer, the laser, and the acoustic energy detectors are communicatively coupled.
The above summary of the present invention is not intended to describe each illustrated embodiment or every implementation of the present invention. The figures and detailed description which follow more particularly exemplify these embodiments.